Geological Society of America

T215 Paleoclimate, Paleoenvironments, and Paleoceanography of Northwestern North America

Wednesday, 13 October 2021
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Portland Ballroom 256 (Hybrid Room)

GSA QUATERNARY GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY DIVISION KIRK BRYAN AWARD - THE DYNAMIC ROLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND CORDILLERAN ICE SHEET IN MILLENNIAL-SCALE GLOBAL CLIMATE VARIABILITY

Paper number: T215-15
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM

Authors

Maureen Walczak Presenting Author
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
June Padman
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Summer Praetorius
Menlo Park, CA
Andreas Schmittner
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Joseph Stoner
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Sarah Zellers
University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO
Alan Mix
The Australian National University, Canberra
Ellen Cowan
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Stewart Fallon
The Australian National University, Canberra
L. Keith Fifield
The Australian National University,, Canberra, ACT
Jay Alder
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Jianghui Du
Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, Zürich
Brian Haley
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Tim Hobern
The Australian National University, Canberra

Abstract

In recent years we have seen an intensification of research on the expression of global millennial-scale climate perturbations of the last ice age in the Pacific basin. The data collected through these efforts is illuminating the probable active role of the Pacific, which comprises the largest heat sink as well as geologically ‘active’ reservoir of carbon on Earth, in modulating, propagating, and perhaps even generating events of abrupt global climate change. These Pleistocene observations are inextricably intertwined with the stability of the largest Pacific cryosphere system: the Cordilleran Ice Sheet of Western North America. Here we review new radiocarbon and sedimentological results from the Gulf of Alaska that document recurrent episodes of reorganized Pacific Ocean circulation synchronous with rapid discharge from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. These Pacific episodes of abrupt retreat of marine-terminating outlet glaciers, termed ‘Siku Events’ repeatedly lead similar episodes of Atlantic ice sheet instability known as ‘Heinrich Events’ over the past ~45,000 years. We explore the apparent cascade of global climate perturbations supported by the best available chronologies for these records, as well as the implications for potential drivers of ice sheet instability in both the Pacific and Atlantic.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 53, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2021AM-370594

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